On the Road again....

The Jeep made it out of the back yard under its own power! And here's photographic proof:
At first, the jeep was idling really fast and I presumed that the choke was stuck so I stepped on the gas and then quickly released the throttle hoping that may free it. It didn't but my cell phone rang so I turned the jeep off. My dad was the caller and immediately chimed in "Did you try stepping on the gas and then pulling your foot off really fast?" Yes, we do think alike. His second tidbit of sage advice was to never underestimate the power of copious amounts of WD-40 to get linkages working again. After I got off the phone I sprayed everything down and sure enough, that unstuck things and the jeep idles nicely now. Thanks Dad!

I'm happy to report the power steering hoses aren't leaking and the pump is noticeably quieter now. You can turn the wheels lock to lock at idle with little effort and the engine doesn't stall. We still haven't gotten the jeep up to operating temp so while it idled I tempted fate and turned on the defroster just in case it started to overheat and I need to cool the engine off. Well after 30 seconds of blowing dirt, sawdust and cobwebs everything is working fine and warmish air started coming out the vents. Antifreeze didn't come shooting out the vents so at least for now it appears the heater core is fine. Memorial Day in NYC is typically rainy so we'll probably need the defroster at the start of the rally. The temp gauge works on the jeep but I turned it off before it made it to the center part of the green section because the gas gauge still doesn't work and I'm not sure how much gas is in the jeep.

Still not sure what phantom load is on when the jeep is off, but I've been disconnecting the battery after running the jeep each time and that seems to be working. Probably will buy this for the rally: Battery Master Disconnect

While the jeep was running I moved it back and forth from the driveway into the yard, back into the driveway, etc at least 5 times. I was by myself and learned a long time ago to never drive something you can't push easily without feeling comfortable it won't immediately die on you. The jeep hesitates a bit when cold, but once it's warm it climbed up the curb from the lawn to the driveway by just barely touching the gas. After putting the jeep away and disconnecting the battery, I cleaned the windshield inside and out and then called it a day.